Tarting up your home with ... tartan

Carol O’Callaghan looks at how tartan can transcend the catwalk to create a fun and inspiring look at home

TAKE a deep breath if you’re a lover of magnolia wall paint, clean lines, and the pared back look. The popularity of tartan and checks on the fashion catwalks last autumn is now tipping into top interior trends for 2014.

But if you’re hankering for a new and dramatic change, this look can be applied in ways that vary from cosy and cuddly, to remarkably light and modern.

Easy does it, though, before channelling your inner Braveheart — you don’t want to end up more Scottish croft than chic suburban. So let’s take a measured approach to enhancing our interiors with a smattering of the look, or as a finish on a single statement piece of furniture.

Undoubtedly, tartan is the look of Scottish baronial lairds and kilts, but then again it was the signature pattern for punk rockers of the 1980s, made famous by then cool designer couple, Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. It’s versatile, no question about it.

Surprisingly, it’s a look that will work, even to a small extent, with existing décor. You’ll even find it as a fundamental of French country style, which sees buffalo checks roaming on curtains, blinds, and cushions.

It also plays to some of the current and surviving trends of the last few years, so if you’ve made retro the basis of your interior style, this new one fits in quite nicely as there’s a 50s and 60s feel to it.

Just picture a chair upholstered in check beside an Anglepoise lamp and a stack of vintage suitcases masquerading as a side table. It’s retro but with a modern look that strikes a balance between comfortable and chic.

Darker tartans will definitely lend themselves to a warmer, wintry look and let’s face it, we’re still in the depths of cold weather and accompanying dark days.

But as we inch into brighter evenings, which we’ll start to notice by the end of the month, consider brighter checks on statement pieces of furniture, opting for light colours with plain fabrics in surrounding décor.

Another option and one that will make a striking aesthetic — though you may need a brave heart for this one — is to try a busy check in modern colourways which include plenty of bright hues and even some vivid greens and pinks.

Apply them to chair upholstery, carpeting and accessories, picking out one of the integral colours to apply to surrounding walls. Be daring and go bright for spring and at the same time incorporate another current trend — colour.

Matured punk rockers who now find a weekend of DIY provides a thrill, might even like to consider tartan wallpaper. Not to everyone’s taste admittedly, and even those who have a nostalgic affection for it might balk at the idea of four chequered walls closing in around them. Instead, give it a go on a single wall or behind a bookcase.

If you’d really like to theme a room in tartan, there’s no reason not to deploy it liberally in upholstery, accessories and walls too, but perhaps it’s best with such use to opt for a light check so as not to overwhelm the space.

- Next week, it’s bling interiors